Kaizer Chiefs Assistant coach Dillon Sheppard maintains that consistency will be key for Amakhosi in their quest to win the Nedbank Cup and finish second on the DStv Premiership come end of the season.
The Soweto giants welcome Motsepe Foundation Championship side Casric Stars in the Nedbank Cup round of 16 encounter at FNB Stadium on Sunday.
Standing in for head coach Arthur Zwane, who is reportedly not feeling well, Sheppard emphasised the importance of being consistent, referring to the Golden Arrows game, where Chiefs lost 3-2 after giving away a lead twice in the game.
“Consistency is very important,” Sheppard said during the Nedbank Cup’s press conference at PSL headquarters in Parktown on Wednesday.
“If you take the Golden Arrows game out of it, with three clean sheets going into that game, a lot of good energy and positivity and then all of a sudden it is one of those game where we go into the lead twice – I don’t want to say throw it away, but errors here and there knocked the confidence of where we are heading and where we have been going with our performance.”
Sheppard said playing in the CAF Champions League against Al Ahly in 2021 raised the bar high, as finishing in Champions league spots on the league is always the clubs’ target.
“Once you’ve had a taste of the Champions league and Africa – going all the way to the final like we did and have that experience, our talk has always been Champions League, it has to be, the top competition. This club needs to be there, with the stature of the club and its history,” Sheppard added.
“That is the space we need to be talking in. Yes, this cup gives us an opportunity to play in the confederations cup but to be honest, we want to be in that champions league spot because once you’ve had a taste of that and experience, that is the only place you want to be.”
The Phefeni Glamour Boys are the most successful club in the Nedbank Cup with 13 titles, but last won the giant slaying cup competition in 2013, a decade ago.
With Chiefs being victims of falling short to lower division side, Zwane and troops will be wary of the threat the Championship league contenders pose ahead of their clash.
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